Athletics at the 1961 Bolivarian Games

Athletics competitions at the 1961 Bolivarian Games were held in Barranquilla, Colombia, in December, 1961.

Athletics at the IV Bolivarian Games
Dates	December
Host city	Barranquilla, Colombia
Level	Senior
Events	30 (21 men, 9 women)
← 1951 Caracas 1965 Quito → 1961 Bolivarian Games

A detailed history of the early editions of the Bolivarian Games between 1938 and 1989 was published in a book written (in Spanish) by José Gamarra Zorrilla, former president of the Bolivian Olympic Committee, and first president (1976-1982) of ODESUR. Gold medal winners from Ecuador were published by the Comité Olímpico Ecuatoriano.

A total of 30 events were contested, 21 by men and 9 by women.

Medal summary

Medal winners were published.

Men

Event	Gold		Silver		Bronze
100 metres	Horacio Esteves (VEN)	10.4	Rafael Romero (VEN)	10.6	Sidney Dobrs (PAN)	10.8
200 metres	Rafael Romero (VEN)	21.4	Horacio Esteves (VEN)	21.5	Mario Brown (PAN)	22.3
400 metres	Humberto Brown (PAN)	49.0	Pedro González (COL)	49.9	Arístides Pineda (VEN)	50.3
800 metres	José Neira (COL)	1:53.0	Álvaro Mejía (COL)	1:55.5	Harley Romero (COL)	1:57.7
1500 metres	José Neira (COL)	4:00.1	Álvaro Mejía (COL)	4:02.7	Harvey Borrero (COL)	4:06.3
5000 metres	Manuel Cabrera (COL)	16:14.2	José Chacón (COL)	16:15.0	Luis Navas (COL)
10,000 metres	Manuel Cabrera (COL)	34:03.1	Luis Navas (COL)	34:04.8	Hernán Barreneche (COL)	34:36.5
Half Marathon	Luis Navas (COL)	1:11:58	Hernán Barreneche (COL)	1:12:29	Florentino Oropesa (VEN)	1:14:27
110 metres hurdles	Teófilo Davis Bell (VEN)	14.8	Juan Muñoz (VEN)	14.8	Arturo Perkins (PAN)	15.1
400 metres hurdles	Víctor Maldonado (VEN)	54.0	Arístides Pineda (VEN)	55.1	Arturo Perkins (PAN)	55.3
High Jump	Roberto Abugattás (PER)	1.80	Ramón Bastardo (VEN)	1.75	Héctor Thomas (VEN)	1.75
Pole Vault	César Quintero (COL)	3.80	Brígido Iriarte (VEN)	3.70	José Restrepo (COL)	3.40
Long Jump	Juan Muñoz (VEN)	7.22	Ramón Bastardo (VEN)	6.89	Clive Bonas (VEN)	6.81
Triple Jump	Asnoldo Devonish (VEN)	14.13	Olguer Ortiz (COL)	13.32	Juan Muñoz (VEN)	13.32
Shot Put	José Bracho (VEN)	14.45	Héctor Thomas (VEN)	13.93	Dagoberto González (COL)	13.79
Discus Throw	Dagoberto González (COL)	46.05	Héctor Thomas (VEN)	45.42	Daniel Cereali (VEN)
Hammer Throw	Daniel Cereali (VEN)	50.43	Marcelino Borrero (COL)	47.05	Luis Vargas (COL)	45.12
Javelin Throw	Jesús Rodríguez (VEN)	67.24	Héctor Thomas (VEN)	66.43	Luis Zárate (PER)	60.83
Pentathlon	Héctor Thomas (VEN)	3161	Roberto Caravaca (VEN)		Hernando Gutiérrez (COL)
4 x 100 metres relay	Venezuela	42.0	Panama		Colombia
4 x 400 metres relay	Venezuela	3:21.8	Colombia	3:26.0	Panama	3:26.3

Women

Event	Gold		Silver		Bronze
100 metres	Jean Holmes (PAN)	12.1	Silvia Hunte (PAN)	12.5	Jean Price (PAN)	13.0
200 metres	Jean Holmes (PAN)	25.4	Silvia Hunte (PAN)	26.5	Jean Price (PAN)	26.9
80 metres hurdles	Benilda Ascanio (VEN)	12.6	Nerva Matheus (VEN)	13.6	Nubia Sánchez (COL)	13.8
High Jump	Lidia Velasco (COL)	1.50	Benilda Ascanio (VEN)	1.40	Carmen Méndez (VEN)	1.40
Long Jump	Benilda Ascanio (VEN)	4.91	Gisela Vidal (VEN)	4.83	Alba López (COL)	4.77
Shot Put	Francisca Roberts (VEN)	12.10	Mercedes García (COL)	10.70	Nerva Matheus (VEN)	10.64
Discus Throw	Mercedes García (COL)	35.67	Ana Sánchez (COL)	34.20	Raquel Ortiz (COL)	33.86
Javelin Throw	Alba López (COL)	34.91	Francisca Roberts (VEN)	32.92	Emma Alvear (COL)	32.48
4 x 100 metres relay	Panama	50.0	Colombia	51.7	Venezuela	52.3

Medal table (unofficial)

  *   Host nation (Colombia)

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	Venezuela (VEN)	15	15	9	39
2	Colombia (COL)*	10	12	13	35
3	Panama (PAN)	4	3	7	14
4	Peru (PER)	1	0	1	2
Totals (4 entries)		30	30	30	90